TNA MP demands return of occupied houses in Vankalai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2004, 12:14 GMT]
Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Sunday wrote to the acting Defence Minister Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to take immediate steps to hand over houses in Vankalai in Mannar district now being occupied by the Sri Lanka Police to the displaced owners who have returned to their village for resettlement since the signing of the ceasefire agreement.

"Please make necessary arrangement to give back these houses to the owners before the end of the month of December, enabling them to celebrate the dawn of the New Year 2005 in their own houses with their families," Mr Adaikalanathan told Wickremanayake.

The Sri Lanka Army was in occupation of these houses abandoned by the residents due to military operation from 1990 to 1999. The Sri Lanka Police came into the occupation of these houses when the army vacated them in the end of the year 1999 and to date the police is occupying these houses, Mr.Adaikalanathan said in his letter.

The displaced families who returned to the village with the intention of renovating their destroyed houses and to lead a peaceful life are now languishing in camps, because of the refusal by the police although they are provided with newly constructed official quarters, said Mr.Adaikalanathan.